A persistent source of frustration among matrimonial lawyers has been understanding when child support may be modified where there is no surviving agreement, or where there is a surviving agreement which has been incorporated into a judgment or order. The child support modification roller coaster has had its ups and downs and the lesson to be taught requires a brief history lesson.

Since 1962 Domestic Relations Law §240 has provided, with regard to child support orders and judgments, that in an action for a divorce "[u]pon the application [of either parent] the court the court may annul or modify any such direction, whether made by order or final judgment." Laws of 1962, Ch. 313. That section was modified in 1963 to provide that "the court must give such direction, between the parties, … as, in the court's discretion, justice requires, having regard to the circumstances of the case." Laws of 1963, Ch. 685.